Video Demonstrates “Mind-Blowing” U.S. Wealth Inequality

Statistics about how much wealth is possessed by different groups of people can be hard to wrap your mind around. This video visualizes the figures in a few different ways—and the picture isn’t pretty.

This week's viral video is a must-see. The six-minute "Wealth Inequality in America," released last Friday, presents the shocking, true size of the wealth gap in the country.

In a series of animated infographics, the video lends a visual punch to numbers that are hard to wrap one’s head around. The top 1 percent of Americans hold 50 percent of all investments in stocks and bonds, for example—while 80 percent of Americans share a paltry 7 percent of the nation’s wealth.

But most interesting are the gaps between where Americans think we are and where we really we are when it comes to wealth. A full 92 percent of Americans agree on what a healthy, ideal wealth distribution curve would look like—one that is far more equitable than what we think is the case. (“That is telling, admittedly,” says the narrator. “The fact that most Americans know that the system is already skewed unfairly.")

But this perceived gap between ideal and reality is pocket change compared with the true state of inequality—an ugly curve in which the poorest and middle class are a barely indistinguishable line while the top 1 percent is, quite literally, off the charts.

What's encouraging is how united Americans are on how wealth should look in our country. But this video is proving to be a real wake-up call to how far we are from that goal. Take a few moments to watch the sobering video below. If you've seen it, it bears watching again and sharing.

An interview with epidemiologist Richard Wilkinson, whose research shows that what the healthiest and happiest societies have in common is not that they have more, but that what they have is more equitably shared.

A new study suggests Americans' happiness declines when there’s a wider gap between rich and poor.

The problem isn't "competitiveness"—it's inequality.

Catherine Woodiwiss is associate web editor at Sojourners, where this blog post originally appeared.